Clacks - Revision history

Spinningspark: redirect per WP:ONEDAB

2022-08-11T12:31:00Z

← Previous revision		Revision as of 12:31, 11 August 2022
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			#redirect [[Clackmannanshire]]
	'''Clacks''' may refer to:

	* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland

	{{disambiguation}}

Spinningspark: Reverted good faith edits by M!dgard (talk): Not covered in either linked article. "Discworld" mentions a game called "clacks", presumably based on the semaphore, but does not describe or even mention the semaphore itself

2022-08-11T12:29:27Z

Reverted good faith edits by M!dgard (talk): Not covered in either linked article. "Discworld" mentions a game called "clacks", presumably based on the semaphore, but does not describe or even mention the semaphore itself

← Previous revision		Revision as of 12:29, 11 August 2022
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	* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland		* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland
	* clacks, a fictional [[semaphore]] system in Terry Pratchett's ''[[Discworld]]''

	{{disambiguation}}		{{disambiguation}}

M!dgard at 19:18, 10 August 2022

2022-08-10T19:18:06Z

← Previous revision		Revision as of 19:18, 10 August 2022
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	* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland		* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland
			* clacks, a fictional [[semaphore]] system in Terry Pratchett's ''[[Discworld]]''

	{{disambiguation}}		{{disambiguation}}

Jo-Jo Eumerus: Removing link(s): Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Technology of the Discworld closed as delete (XFDcloser)

2020-05-04T09:04:34Z

Removing link(s): Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Technology of the Discworld closed as delete (XFDcloser)

← Previous revision		Revision as of 09:04, 4 May 2020
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	* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland		* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland
	* clacks, a fictional semaphore system in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' — see [[Technology of the Discworld#The clacks]]

	{{disambiguation}}		{{disambiguation}}

WiJaMa: Deleted probable vandalism by User:103.80.120.69

2019-02-04T01:07:54Z

Deleted probable vandalism by User:103.80.120.69

← Previous revision		Revision as of 01:07, 4 February 2019
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	* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland		* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland
	*A merger of family names during a 2019 indonesian travel adeventure to create bonding and good times the clarks & blacks "the clacks" whom big T and D dog where the parents and black kat and clarkdog were the irresponsible youth
	* clacks, a fictional semaphore system in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' — see [[Technology of the Discworld#The clacks]]		* clacks, a fictional semaphore system in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' — see [[Technology of the Discworld#The clacks]]

103.80.120.69: Spelling

2019-01-13T09:34:46Z

Spelling

← Previous revision		Revision as of 09:34, 13 January 2019
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	* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland		* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland
	*A merger of family names during a ~~2018~~ indonesian travel adeventure to create bonding and good times the clarks & blacks "the clacks"		*A merger of family names during a 2019 indonesian travel adeventure to create bonding and good times the clarks & blacks "the clacks" whom big T and D dog where the parents and black kat and clarkdog were the irresponsible youth
	* clacks, a fictional semaphore system in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' — see [[Technology of the Discworld#The clacks]]		* clacks, a fictional semaphore system in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' — see [[Technology of the Discworld#The clacks]]

103.80.120.69: Clack family merger

2019-01-13T09:28:35Z

Clack family merger

← Previous revision		Revision as of 09:28, 13 January 2019
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	* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland		* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland
			*A merger of family names during a 2018 indonesian travel adeventure to create bonding and good times the clarks & blacks "the clacks"
	* clacks, a fictional semaphore system in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' — see [[Technology of the Discworld#The clacks]]		* clacks, a fictional semaphore system in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' — see [[Technology of the Discworld#The clacks]]

A bit iffy: converted to disambiguation page

2014-09-19T00:32:27Z

converted to disambiguation page

← Previous revision		Revision as of 00:32, 19 September 2014
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			'''Clacks''' may refer to:
	#redirect[[Technology of the Discworld#The clacks]]

			* Clacks, abbreviation of [[Clackmannanshire]], a county in Scotland
			* clacks, a fictional semaphore system in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' — see [[Technology of the Discworld#The clacks]]

			{{disambiguation}}

Serendipodous: This is just a rehash of Going Postal; the info can be condensed into its synopsis

2010-07-15T19:18:07Z

This is just a rehash of Going Postal; the info can be condensed into its synopsis

← Previous revision		Revision as of 19:18, 15 July 2010
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			#redirect[[Technology of the Discworld#The clacks]]
	{{About\|the fictional communication system\|the Scottish council area\|Clackmannanshire\|the onomatopoeic sound\|Clackers (disambiguation)\|people named "Clack"\|Clack}}
	The '''clacks''' is a [[semaphore]]-based communications system in the [[Discworld]] novels of [[Terry Pratchett]]. It occupies roughly the same cultural space as [[telegraphy]] in nineteenth century Europe. The clacks system first appears in ''[[The Fifth Elephant]]'', but its full history is set out in ''[[Going Postal]]''.

	The clacks stretch along the [[Sto Plains]], into the [[Ramtops]] and across the Unnamed Continent to [[Genua]]. It has become the [[Discworld (world)\|Discworld]]'s first [[telecommunications network]]. While the system structure is that of a [[telegraph]], elements of it are often described as similar to the [[Internet]]; for example, it threatens to make the Post Office obsolete in ''[[Going Postal]]'' and is sometimes described as 'c-mail' (a clear reference to [[e-mail]]). 'C-commerce' is also carried out on it.

	They are likely to be based on the real-world [[optical telegraph]]s used in the early 19th century before electrical [[Telegraph#Optical telegraphs and smoke signals\|telegraphy]] made them obsolete.
	Or other possible influences for the clacks system is the similar [[Semaphore (communication)\|semaphore]] network in the [[Keith Roberts]] novel ''[[Pavane (novel)\|Pavane]]'' or the [[hoodwinker]] towers in ''[[The Blue World]]'' by [[Jack Vance]]. A similar telegraph system is described in the [[L. Sprague de Camp]] novel ''[[Lest Darkness Fall]].'' The name itself may have been inspired by 'clackers', the term for operators of mechanical computers in [[William Gibson]] and [[Bruce Sterling]]'s [[steampunk]] novel ''[[The Difference Engine]]''; it is also a play on the word '[[fax]]'.

	The typical clacks tower is described as "three stories tall, made of wood, and looks like it was put together in a hurry, probably because it was". They are positioned approximately eight miles apart in flat country, according to the description. The ground floor is a storeroom, the second contains an office, a kitchen and, in out-of-the-way towers, a bunkroom. The top floor contains the controls, two chairs face identical control boards on either side, each connected to the panels on the opposite side. There is a keyboard, levers, and pedals. Sometimes entering a code will alter the configuration of the system, probably beneficially (but see [[#"The Smoking GNU"\|Smoking GNU]], below.)

	==Invention and early years==
	The history of the clacks network was detailed in ''[[Going Postal]]''. The invention was originally made by an artificer called Robert Dearheart who was conducting experiments in an abandoned wizard's tower halfway between [[Ankh-Morpork]] and Sto Lat, where he came up with the basic mechanism of two-by-three array of wooden panels, with pulleys that could drop shutters over them, creating a code. A series of high towers, with one of these mechanisms on each side and someone ready to relay the codes, could send messages across "at the speed of light";<ref>About 600 miles per hour, or about the speed of sound, due to the effects of the [[Discworld (world)\|Discworld]]'s magical fields on electromagnetic radiation.</ref> The panel also had a recess for a lamp, meaning messages could be sent at night.

	Based on this, he founded the Grand Trunk Company which began creating a network of towers that would stretch across the continent. "High traffic" towers have more than six panels. The largest is the one on the huge hill in Ankh-Morpork called 'The Tump' (a cross between the [[Trump Tower]] and the [[Post Office Tower]]), which is the main junction between the city's clacks network (various city institutions, including the [[Guilds of Ankh-Morpork\|Guilds]], and the [[Ankh-Morpork City Watch\|Watch]] had installed small clacks towers on their buildings) and the chain of towers that leads past Sto Lat, into [[Überwald]], and from there to Genua. In the less civilized areas in the heart of the continent, they ran into problems, and most clacks towers in the Überwald area had fortified stone bases and, often, armed guards. In ''[[Monstrous Regiment (novel)\|Monstrous Regiment]]'' a particularly acute problem in [[Borogravia]] is described, where the towers were seen as an 'Abomination unto [[Discworld gods#Nuggan\|Nuggan]]' (the local god), on the grounds that if messages were being sent through the air, prayers would get tangled up in them.

	Because much of the material being sent was confidential, the senders would put it in their own code before being given to the clacks operators. The operators were, therefore, often surprised if they received a message they understood, outside the Overhead (the messages from and about the network itself).

	The Grand Trunk employed a lot of [[Trolls (Discworld)#Other kinds of troll\|gargoyles]] as they were exceptionally good at sitting and watching without getting bored.

	The success of the clacks network resulted in a fad for semaphore of all types, and fashionable Morporkians began carrying signal flags with them, to send messages to friends on the other side of the room. This appears to have died out, although the City Watch has its own semaphore network, with a relay station on the roof of the Old Lemonade Factory (the Watch training school).

	Dearheart, and his employees, continued to improve the network, and as the network grew larger, activating the shutters directly became too complicated, so methods of automating the process were introduced. [[Punched card]]s, nicknamed [[Jacquard loom\|jacquards]], were designed that would send certain messages automatically, and clockwork machinery was added to regulate the mechanisms. Outgoing messages were stored on rolls of punched paper called "drum rolls" (presumably after the [[differential (mechanics)\|differential]] drum, which seems to be the centre of the clockwork). They even worked out a way of coding pictures by using numbers to represent colours; this was later simplified, as explained in ''Monstrous Regiment''.

	==Takeover by Reacher Gilt==
	Unfortunately, Dearheart and those like him were brilliant at engineering, but not finances. A consortium of financiers had been embezzling from the company since it was set up, and when it reached the point of collapse, they bought Dearheart and the others out with their own money. Under the new management, the clacks network became more profitable, but less reliable. As the new owners didn't really understand the clacks the way the previous management had, they worked it until it broke.

	The head of the new consortium was a man named [[Reacher Gilt]]. A ruthless businessman with a piratical appearance, including an eyepatch and a parrot (actually a [[cockatoo]] that, instead of repeatedly saying "pieces of eight", repeatedly said "twelve and a half percent", which is, incidentally, 100% through 8), he was a shameless con-artist and fraudster whose business style was described as "[[three-card Monte\|Find the lady]] with entire banks". He maintained his [[monopoly]] by killing anyone attempting to set up another network, including Dearheart's son, John, and employing the [[Undead (Discworld)#Banshees\|banshee]] Mr. Gryle to do so.

	=="The Smoking GNU"==
	Clacks operators, therefore, could either keep working for a company that didn't really care about the clacks, or give up. Since the clacks tended to attract obsessive personalities (a parallel to [[computer geek]]s), this was more than some could stand. One group (a trio comprising "Mad Al, Sane Alex, and Undecided Adrian who says he's not mad but can't prove it"), who had been working with John Dearheart before his death, set up an illegal clacks tower and used their knowledge of the system to send unauthorized messages in the Overhead, in a manner akin to [[computer hackers]], [[Black hat\|crackers]], or [[phreaking\|phreakers]]. They worked out a way to deliver [[killer poke]]s into the system, putting the towers out of commission (the explanation given for one of them is that if two specific shutters are moved in opposite directions at the top of a tower, it would rock dangerously. Repeating this at the right intervals in a long message would cause the tower to collapse). They called themselves the Smoking GNU, from the clacks-jargon term for a really fast unlogged message (the name is a reference to "the [[smoking gun]]" in many [[conspiracy theories]]; it is likely also a reference to the [[GNU Project]] or its related licenses, which are heavily associated with hacker culture, and whose philosophies tend to be counter to monopolistic business practices. The book states that G indicates a message that goes on, N indicates not logged and U indicated that it is turned around at the end of the line.). The Smoking GNU trio are also partly based on [[The Lone Gunmen]], a trio of hackers from ''[[The X-Files]]'' and later their own TV series.

	Alex Carlton and Al Winton are clacks engineers. Despite Alex's nickname, it is Al's opinion that he's mad as well, because nobody normal would organize screws by size ([[Jeremy Clockson]] had the same kind of "sanity", and many Discworld villains have similar afflictions). Adrian Emery is an alchemist, and has a number of ideas for improving the clacks with chemicals that change colour (and hardly explode at all).

	The clacks system has also been cracked by [[Hex (Discworld)\|Hex]], after [[Ponder Stibbons]] connected it to the [[Unseen University]]'s tower (thereby making Hex the equivalent of a computer with an internet connection). Whether or not this is actually legal is a question the faculty is carefully not asking.

	==Restoration==
	In ''[[Going Postal]]'', the consortium was exposed, and [[Havelock Vetinari]] proposed that the [[Ankh-Morpork Post Office]] take over the running of the system, most likely a reference to when the [[GPO]] (General Post Office) formerly ran the telephone network in the [[United Kingdom\|UK]]. However, the Postmaster, [[Moist von Lipwig]], has expressed his intention to return the Grand Trunk Company to the Dearheart family. Reacher Gilt was presumed dead after being given the opportunity of (having) a lifetime by Lord Vetinari, and declining it.

	==c-mail==

	Some c-mail addresses include:
	* [[William de Worde]]: WDW@Times.AM
	* [[Igor (Discworld)\|We R Igors]]: Yethmarthter@Überwald

	In the television adaptation of ''[[Terry Pratchett's Going Postal\|Going Postal]]'', the clacks were shown to be a four by four grid of shutters on one side of a tower. The towers appear as repeaters with an operating room on the top of a pylon style wooden tower and a ladder to the operating room. Most of the towers had a two-way shutter arrangement to allow for communications in both directions.

	==References==
	{{reflist}}

	[[Category:Discworld organisations]]
	[[Category:Fictional telecom protocols]]

	[[cs:Semafory (Zeměplocha)]]
	[[ja:Clacks]]
	[[ru:Семафоры (Плоский мир)]]
	{{discworld}}

Serendipodous: /* References */

2010-07-14T21:44:15Z

References

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	[[ja:Clacks]]		[[ja:Clacks]]
	[[ru:Семафоры (Плоский мир)]]		[[ru:Семафоры (Плоский мир)]]
			{{discworld}}